2006年VOA标准英语-EU Gives Serbia New Deadline to Arrest Mla

By Barry Wood
Belgrade
27 February 2006

The European Union Monday gave Serbia until the end of March to arrest war crimes fugitive¹ Ratco Mladic or face possible suspension of talks about Belgrade's possible membership in the EU.

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Serbian Radical² Party supporters show pictures of former Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, former Bosnian Serb army General Ratko Mladic, February 24, 2006  
  

Serbia dodged³ a bullet Monday as European Union foreign ministers stepped back from threats of an immediate⁴ suspension of membership talks. Instead, the EU gave Belgrade a strong reprimand and notice that it has only one more month to arrest and extradite Ratko Mladic to The Hague war crimes tribunal. Along with fugitive Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, Mladic is on top of the most wanted list of the war crimes suspects still at large. He is charged with genocide for the murder of nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica 10 years ago.

Political analyst⁵ Bratislav Grubacic says he detects a significant change in government policy towards Mladic and is convinced that the fugitive general will soon be arrested.

"The only problem is that it is still not quite clear whether it will happen today, or within three days, or a week, or maybe a month," he said. "But definitely it will happen. What we can say is that it is true that the current government really wants to have Mladic in The Hague."

Human rights advocate Sonja Biserko, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, agrees that the Serbian government has changed course and wants to be rid of Mladic.

"Obviously, for the first time, high officials are telling us that Mladic is going to be arrested," she said. "And for the first time the government has undertaken some concrete steps [to do so]."

Biserko says Mr. Kostunica, wanting Serbia to be part of Europe, has no choice but to go after Mladic. Grubacic says while Mr. Kostunica no longer denies that Mladic has been hiding in Serbia, the prime minister would prefer that the arrest take place outside the country.

"Maybe, they would like most to have Mladic being arrested somewhere out of Serbia, like Bosnia or wherever," he said. "And then after that to say, okay, someone else did it. So we didn't do it."

James Lyon, an American political analyst who lives in Belgrade, also agrees that the capture of Mladic is near. He says by turning Mladic over to the war crimes court, the Serbian government stands to boost its image abroad and strengthen its bargaining position in the current negotiations⁶ on the final status of Kosovo, the Serbian province whose Albanian majority want full independence.

1 fugitive   

adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者

参考例句：

• The police were able to deduce where the fugitive was hiding.警方成功地推断出那逃亡者躲藏的地方。
• The fugitive is believed to be headed for the border.逃犯被认为在向国境线逃窜。

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 dodged   

v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He dodged cleverly when she threw her sabot at him. 她用木底鞋砸向他时，他机敏地闪开了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He dodged the book that I threw at him. 他躲开了我扔向他的书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。